Houdini, Barbara Fritchie, and a return to Frederick

On November 25, 1924, Houdini gave his spiritualism lecture at The Armory in Frederick, Maryland. The morning of his arrival, Harry and Bess sat down with a reporter in the main dining of The Francis Scot Key Hotel (above), for which Houdini expressed admiration.

The interview ran the next day in the Frederick News. In it the reporter is full of praise, stating: "Quiet and unassuming, he was the essence of friendship. He immediately places one at ease and when Houdini starts to talk, all one has to do is listen." Houdini even performed his thumb racket at the table. But what really stood out for me is when Houdini reveals he had been in Frederick once before.

In case you don't know (because I didn't), Barbara Fritchie was an elderly woman who defiantly flew the American flag from her house during the Civil War. She became famous in folklore as the heroine of a 1863 poem by John Greenleaf Whittier in which she tells a Confederate general, "Shoot if you must this old gray head, but spare your country's flag."

A 1927 reconstruction of the Barbara Fritchie house still stands in Frederick today.

At first I was skeptical of Houdini's story. It was my understanding that the Welsh Bros. Circus toured exclusively in Pennsylvania. So I thought Houdini might have whipped up this memory just for the local reporter.

However, I did some digging and discovered that the Welsh Bros. Circus did play Frederick for one day on September 14, 1898. This is indeed when The Houdinis were with the troupe! The circus set up on Burger's lot on East Patrick street. The local paper even mentions the parade:

Frederick News, Sept. 14, 1898.

So it looks like Houdini's memory is legit, and it's a treat to have a new story from his circus days. (I later discovered the Welsh Bros. also played a single day in Cumberland, Maryland. But Houdini in Cumberland is another story.)

The reporter then turns his attention to Bess. The result is this gem:

I have a feeling Bess was probably serious about this. Just as she worried about her husband when he suspended himself in a straitjacket, I'm sure she worried about him now and for good reason. Houdini was courting real danger with his exposures and there were no shortage of frauds and fanatics who could have done him harm. But just like Barbara Fritchie, he flew his flag anyway!

UPDATE: You can now read a day by day account of the Houdinis 1898 Welsh Bros. tour in Escaping Obscurity: The Travel Diary of Harry Houdini 1897-1899, available exclusively from Mike Caveney's Magic Words.

Related:

• Houdini's Spiritualism Lectures
• When the Welsh Bros. came to town
• Houdini joins the circus

Houdini meets Mr. Peabody & Sherman

Houdini puts in an appearance on the DreamWorks Animation series The Mr. Peabody & Sherman Show. In Season 4, Episode 5, "Gone Comic Gone / Harry Houdini", Peabody and Sherman time travel to 1895 to "teach Houdini restraint."

The show is pretty manic, but the Houdini storyline is fun. Harry starts off as an unsuccessful and overbearing "show off" magician (who bares a striking resemblance to Criss Angel). With the help of Mr. Peabody and Sherman, he transformers into the iconic magician of history. We even get to see him do his thumb racket!

Houdini is voiced by Jeff Bennett. The show was written by Mike Leffingwell.

The series is now airing on the Universal Kids TV network, but all four seasons are available on Netflix where this episode premiered on April 21, 2017.

Below are links to some other Houdini animated adventures.

Related:

• Jem and the Houdinis
• Houdini's great mouse adventure
• Houdini gets The Simpsons treatment

Houdini the bibliophile

"When I have come to town the police have tried to show me that their shackles could hold me, and have failed; the booksellers have tried to sell me many books, and have succeeded." - Houdini

Our friend Lisa Cousins, librarian at the Magic Castle in Hollywood, has uncovered a fascinating profile of Houdini as collector in the January 1927 issue of The Bookman. The piece is called "Houdini's Literary Escape" by Prosper Buranelli, who interviewed Houdini in his home. It was published posthumously.

While Houdini was a well-known collector of books on magic, spiritualism and theatre, his collecting does not come in for much discussion or examination. That's why this article is especially interesting. It provides quotes from the man himself about his (surprising) initial motives for collecting, Bess's own book collection, and his plans for a project that he would not live to complete.

The article kicks off with a description of Houdini's home:

A three story house crammed with fifteen thousand books, fifty thousand prints, half a million cuttings and four tons of theatrical bills stands on an obscure New York block and domiciles a bibliophile–Houdini the Handcuff King. A dozen and a half rooms are lined with shelves and these with books, old, new, small, large. One is heaped with filing cases of prints. The basement is full of antique posters.

Buranelli describes Houdini as "a middle aged, middle sized man with a broad head and a good profile; small strait nose and long mobile upper lip. His talk is leisurely and whimsical, and characterizes a man of reading and meditation with a dash of the theatre." He then goes on to quote Houdini at length about how and when he started collecting books:

"I was a young magician," Houdini relates. "I took my magicship seriously. I saw myself one of the subtle necromancers of old times, full of mysteries, secrets, and secretiveness. I felt that the darkness and concealments of magic must be kept from the uninitiated, and grew earnest about it. I was young and visionary.

"On public stalls I saw books exposing magic, perhaps an old pamphlet detailing the secrets of great fire eater, or a treatise upon the use of mirrors in conjury. These books filled me with misgiving. I should have liked to suppress their editions. The editions were past my reach, but the books before me were not. I could buy them and cast them into the flames. I bought them, but did not cast them into the flames.

"My father had been one of the earliest rabbis in the middle west, a Talmudic scholar of note, and a writer of speculative disquisitions. He had reared me in the love of books. I felt the sin of destroying a book, and I kept the offending volumes I bought. But I burned their titles pages, lest some intruder should note where they had been printed and could be found, and gain the secrets they contained.

"I found myself with a growing library on magic, the bibliophile instinct I had inherited took full hold of me, and I collected systematically. Much of the writing about magicians lay in books about stage notables generally, and I was led to collect on the theatre."

Buranelli notes that Houdini's himself has published exposures -- including fire eating in Miracle Mongers and Their Methods. Houdini's defense is that "fire eating has gone out of vogue."

The article then turns, amusingly, to the question of spouses and the domestic problems that a book collecting habit can bring.

"Most bibliophiles," he declares, "are unable to work a reconciliation between books and marriage. Some give up marriage for books, other books for marriage, and still others nourish the discordant two in their bosoms. I know a professor who gathers books in spite of his wife, as many do, and who hides the volumes he had bought under the icebox until he finds a chance to get them into his room unnoticed.

"My wife is, herself, a bibliophile. She specializes in cook books. She has gathered approximately a thousand volumes treating upon the kitchen in many languages, some very quaint. I have to do on a little of my book buying surreptitiously."

Houdini says he is currently reading Virgil ("I should like to dream of Virgil with a black lined stage and a set of mirrors"), and discusses the ancient art of conjuring. Even though Houdini's show program at this time specially states that he would not answer questions related to the miracles in the Bible (a spiritualistic trap), he does so here:

"But the greatest source of ancient magical lore is the Bible. When I want to beginnings of almost any of our devices I look into the Bible first. The theocrats of the Jews, like those of the Chaldeans, were wonderfully versed in conjuring.

"A superb trick seen in Aaron's staff that becomes a serpent. The Egyptian priests knew when pressure was exerted on the nerve centre at the base of the skull, and which was set squirming again by pressure on a nerve centre at the tail. Aaron, no doubt, learned the secret from the priests."

Houdini then introduces the reporter to Alfred Becks, his librarian, and reveals his plans for a future project (that would never be):

"He [Becks] is indexing the library for me," said Houdini. "I shall keep him with me, for no man living knows as much about the American theater as he does. He is a link with a splendid past.

"And when these tons of material are in order I shall begin a major work upon an enterprise that has kept my fancy for many years – a treatise upon literary plagiarism. In my reading I have caught numberless parallel passages, and have made notes on them. I shall compile them."

The article concludes:

All this was very scholarly, but sorcery would out. Houdini began toying with his left thumb. He pulled the thumb off the hand. Then replaced it.

Thanks to Lisa Cousin's for sharing this wonderful find. The full Bookman article can be read by AMA members at the Magic Castle's William Larsen Sr. Memorial Library.

Related:

• Houdini says...
• Houdini the unhappy commuter
• Houdini's house then and now

'Personalities of the Past' DVD features Houdini

Alpha Video has released a new DVD called Personalities of the Past (Part 1). Notice which personality they put on their cover (he's also on the disc itself). Alpha knows the selling power of Houdini! Here's the description:

Legendary and iconic figures of the twentieth century, the famous and the infamous, come to life on film in this fascinating collection of short subjects. A few of the many highlights include a look at the life of Theodore Roosevelt, as he evolves from warrior to conservationist. Master of Magic Harry Houdini performs one of his daring escapes while suspended high above the Manhattan streets. Sergeant York, the greatest American hero of World War I, is interviewed in 1919. Famed evangelist Aimee Semple MacPherson, credited with curing thousands with her faith healing, discusses her impending marriage. Clarence Darrow and William Jennings Bryan square off at the Scopes Monkey Trial in 1925. Ziegfield comedy queen Fanny Brice celebrates two decades in show business. Sherlock Holmes' creator Sir Arthur Conan Doyle visits New York. After escaping 17 trials without a conviction, notorious mobster Jack "Legs" Diamond is gunned down by a rival gang in an Albany rooming house in 1930. Mahatma Gandhi struggles to free India from the yoke of Great Britain.

Personalities of the Past is a collection of narrated newsreel shorts probably from the 1930s. The Houdini clip, which is the second segment on the disc, is narrated by Roger Owens and shows Houdini doing a suspended straitjacket escape (but not in Manhattan as described). The footage we've seen before and the quality is awful, but Owens narration makes it unique and it's a nice product of its time. Also, the end includes the quick clip of Houdini demonstrating his thumb racket.

Personalities of the Past runs 1 hour and can be purchased at Oldies.com or Amazon.

When Louella Parsons met Houdini

Louella Parsons was America's first movie columnist. During her heyday with the Hearst press, her columns were read by 20 million people in 400 newspapers worldwide.

Parsons began writing for the Chicago Record Herald in 1914. In 1918 she moved to New York City and started working for the New York Morning Telegraph. It was here she caught the attention of William Randolph Hearst, who hired her in 1923. She went on to become a fixture of the Golden Age of Hollywood, and is famous for leading the attack (on behalf of Hearst) on Orson Welles' Citizen Kane, and her rivalry with gossip columnist Hedda Hooper. She was portrayed by Elizabeth Taylor in the 1985 TV movie, Malice in Wonderland.

In 1918, when Parsons was still working for the New York Telegraph, she interviewed Houdini backstage at the New York Hippodrome. It's a remarkable piece -- her writing is a hoot -- that really captures what it was like to meet the Master Mystifier in person. There are also some interesting comments from Houdini about The Bible and meeting evangelist Billy Sunday, and his thoughts on making movies.

I thought this was one worth reproducing in full, so enjoy.

November 10, 1918
Louella Parsons
NEW YORK TELEGRAPH

When Houdini became a legitimate subject for a motion picture story, there seemed to me no reason why I should not pay him a visit and ask him to tell me how he managed to wriggle his way out of a straitjacket while he was suspended sixty feet in the air, where he concealed the yards and yards of gay colored silk he apparently extracted from a water-filled bowl, how he unlocked a bolted and barred box without key or chisel.

The Rolfe studio way out in Yonkers didn't help solve this problem for me because it is too far from the haunts of man to permit a busy woman to wander there while there is work to be done. But his name on the Hippodrome program as one of the integral parts of "Everything" gave me an opportunity to visit him at the theatre.

We saw his performance first from one of the loges and heard him speak in a Liberty Loan voice, now the fashion among people who have done service for Uncle Sam. Then he disappeared from view, and Mr. Conway of the Hippodrome staff came and told me Houdini would see me in his dressing room.

"Find out how he does it," shouted all four voices. "Don't come back until he tells you," instructed an enthusiastic female in our party. With all these whispered words of advice simmering in my brain I followed Mr. Conway down the devious and mysterious back-stage passageways of the labyrinth-like Hippodrope. It was dark, and I had a sort of shaky feeling akin to the sensation one gets when the lights go out and a spiritualistic seance is put on with a ghostly voice sighing its way into the party.

A cheerful voice, a bright light and an interesting personality--all belonging to Houdini--made me forget the spooky feeling of a few moments earlier.

"Won't you come in?" invited Mr. Houdini. His pet eagle echoed the invitation by flapping his wings, and so I entered the presence of the master magician with the thought uppermost in my mind, "How do you do all this magic?"

The thought is twin to the voice and in two minutes I had put into words what had been singing in my mind.

"Won't you tell me how you untied yourself?" I asked.

"If I tell you," he said, "it will be no secret."

"But if I promise never to tell?"

"Ah, many have asked the same thing, but I have promised myself to carry my secret to the grave," he said. "If you knew, you would not consider the feat marvelous or even interesting."

Houdini, and his name has been legalized, comes from a small town called Appleton, Wis. Appleton is famous also as the birthplace of Edna Ferber and Dr. John Murphy, Chicago's great surgeon.

"When I was a small boy in Appleton," said Houdini, "my mother used to bake apple pie. She would lock it in a pantry and it would disappear. I was the guilty culprit. Apple pie is probably the only thing which would drive me to such desperate deeds--and even today, for a piece of my mother's pie, I would commit a theft."

"Doesn't she bake any more pies for you; and do you really think such rich pastry is good for you?" I asked, wondering if he didn't have to diet with so much depending upon his physical perfection.

He handed me a photograph of himself and two women. Pointing to the elder of the two, he said: "My mother left us five years ago. This is my wife, and we are unfashionable enough to still like each other after twenty-four years of married life."

Then we came to the subject of pie as a diet. Houdini makes no restrictions in eating when he likes. He is extremely proud of his stomach, an endowment, he says, of an ancestral cleanliness. He is proud of his family and spoke not only in tender, proud tones of the sweet-faced little mother, but of his rabbi father, who brought him up in the strict Hebrew church. Houdini is a Jew, and proud of it.

"Once I went to a talk with Billy Sunday," he said. "He talked about the Bible to me and I went home and read it; the next day I was a better Jew than I had ever been in my life--that is what Billy Sunday did for me."

We talked about every subject in the world but moving pictures. We talked about reincarnation, transmigration of the soul, the Sir Oliver Lodge theory, and in merely a superficial discussion, just scratching the surface as it were, Houdini betrayed himself as being a rarely well-read and well-educated man. He does not talk to get an audience, but after the manner of a man who knows his subject.

Finally we came to motion pictures. Houdini is right now nursing a broken wrist and a bumped head.

"I had to go into pictures to get these," he said, pointing ruefully to his injured members. "You see, I don't have any doubles. I do all the stunts myself. Some of the business Arthur Reeve left out of the scenario, with instructions for me to get out of any predicament I was in as best I could. Well, I followed his advice and got these."

But Houdini likes making pictures. He says it is a sinfully easy way to make money. Attention here, all you hard-working stars, who sigh over the vicissitudes of the picture-making game.

"Why, the director tells you what to do, and you do it. One thing," said the master magician, "there are no fakes in the serial we are making. I have done everything called for, without calling in any help, and our fights have been real fights."

The Rolfe serial, "The Master Mystery," is the subject of great enthusiasm with Houdini. He likes it, and thinks the public will enjoy the tale of adventure it unfolds.

"You know the only thing that worried me," he said, "when I was taking the picture. I have never acted with women and I was afraid my wife would not exactly like my making love to these girls, even if it was only for the benefit of the camera."

"Did she mind," I asked, amused at this naive confession from a man who had been learnedly discussing philosophy and religion but a few seconds ago.

"Not a bit," he said. "We both like the young ladies very much. They are sweet girls. You see, I am not much of a ladies' man."

I should say Houdini is very modest. He has nice gray eyes, a singularly attractive smile and a most engaging manner. The picture taken of himself some years ago with his wife and mother shows a very handsome young man. He is older now, with hair just beginning to grow thin at the temples.

Every few seconds we came back to his art. I call it art, for, black magic though it may be, he has certainly raised it to the plane of artistic endeavor. He stands unique and alone. There is only one Houdini. There will probably never be another one, for he is determined to bury his secret with him.

"I have not betrayed my secrets on the screen, though I have had some difficulty in keeping them from the watchful eye of the camera," he said.

I had to return to my box at the Hippodrome without the secret, but Houdini, much after the manner of pleasing a child who has been grievously disappointed, showed me how he can disjoint his thumb, a trick I have never before seen done.

Just as I was leaving Houdini's dressing room he confessed to me I was entirely different from what he expected to see. "I had a mental picture in my mind," he said, "and you are just the opposite."

He didn't tell me whether I had failed to measure up to his expectation, but then, as I said--Houdini is a gentleman.

If you're curious, the trick that so amazed Louella was Houdini's thumb racket, which you can see a brief clip of HERE. For another portrayal of Louella Parsons, check out the excellent HBO movie, RKO 281.

Houdini & Holmes special expanded digital edition

The talented Polly Guo (pollums.com) has released a special digital edition of her two Houdini & Holmes graphic novels. This new version has extensive edits and revisions to the script and artwork, plus 22 pages of extra content, including concept art, historical notes, and a fun extra story called Quite a Pair.

Polly's story finds Houdini, Conan Doyle, Holmes and Watson embroiled in the murder of a spiritualist (Houdini, of course, is a chief suspect). One bit of fun is Polly illustrates the real-life moment when Houdini did his thumb racket for Doyle, amazing the author with his "powers". Bess is also part of the action as her husband's wily helpmate in various sticky situations. Again Polly shows she did her research with Houdini at times calling Bess "sweetie wife mine".

Buy the Houdini & Holmes Special Digital Edition HERE. You can also buy digital editions of Issue #1 and Issue #2 separately.

Genii & Houdini: October 1961

A magnificent photo of Harry and Bessie Houdini graced the cover of Genii The Conjurors' Magazine Vol. 26, No. 2 in October 1961. It had been five years since the last Houdini memorial issue. This issue would make up for lost time, and also kick off a new era in the Houdini-Genii relationship.

In many ways, this is one of my favorite Houdini issues of Genii. And not just because I love the cover pic. This issue announced the arrival on the scene of 17-year-old Patrick Culliton. Editor Bill Larsen Jr. writes that Patrick is "young in years, but old in the history of magic in general and Houdini in particular." Patrick would assume the role that Edward Saint played in the 1930s, motivating Genii to produce an annual Houdini issue by providing unique content. Says Patrick, "Bill hadn't done one in a couple of years and the Houdini issues always sold a few more magazines."

In this issue, Patrick writes two articles; one on "Houdini's Thumb Racket" and another about "Houdini's Assistants". Patrick had written both articles when he was only 15. (The latter article was reprinted in Walter Gibson's The Original Houdini Scrapbook in 1976.) Patrick also provided the cover portrait and the photo of Houdini's assistants "after the beer challenge." Both had come from the collection of Jacob Hyman. "Marie Hinson wrote a nice note to Bill about the Houdinis on the cover," says Patrick.

This issue also contains an impressive Houdini bibliography by Dave Price of the Egyptian Hall Museum. The contents reflect what is in the Egyptian Hall collection, and covers three pages with some 211 individual listings. It includes sections on books, articles, handbills, letters to and from Houdini, letterheads, photographs, posters, programs and more.

Notable non-Houdini items include a nice photo and announcement of the debut of Mark and Darnell Wilson's The Magic Land of Allakazam TV series (which featured a vanishing elephant), and the re-naming of Main Street in Colon Michigan to Blackstone Avenue in honor of Harry Blackstone Sr.

In his Genii Speaks column, editor Bill Larsen says, "I hope next year to really put out a collectors item in the way of a Houdini issue with Pat's help." It was a promise he would keep.

Coming next: October 1962

Click here for a complete list of all the Genii-Houdini cover issues.

Video of Houdini's thumb racket

Recently one of my readers alerted me to a section of Getty Images where you can purchase stock footage. Not sure how long this has been available, but they have a very nice collection of Houdini clips, including this rarely seen two-second clip of Houdini performing his "Thumb Racket".

This was the "trick" that caused Lady Doyle to nearly faint and further convinced Sir Arthur Conan Doyle that Houdini must be supernatural. What other explanation could there be!? Marcet Halderman-Julius in the magic journal Halderman-Julius Monthly recalls, "I could almost have sworn I heard a brittle sounding snap as he broke it off and certainly should have been justified in swearing in any court that I saw that the first joint of Houdini's thumb entirely severed from the second."

This cops behind Harry seem to be accepting the trick for what it is; a bit of hokey fun.

Patrick Culliton in Houdini The Key devotes a chapter to the Thumb Racket, and notes that there was another more complicated effect utilizing a false thumb that Houdini could have used. Or maybe he was just damn good!

How did I miss this?

Somehow I completely missed this when it was released in 2002, but I just caught Grand Illusions: The Story of Magic on Netflix, and was thoroughly impressed with the Houdini episode. It's actually one of the better Houdini documentaries out there.

My biggest surprise is that it contains the rare footage of Houdini performing the "Thumb Racket," which I had only just learned about in Pat Culliton's Houdini The Key. But it's been right here all these years! The other episodes are first rate as well, although some are now dated.

There is also a Grand Illusions: The Story of Magic Part Two, which you can bet I'll be checking out soon.

'HOUDINI THE KEY' HAS ARRIVED

What better day than Halloween to announce the publication of HOUDINI - THE KEY, Patrick Culliton’s major new book which reveals many of Houdini’s most closely guarded secrets.

I’ve just picked up my copy (#25) and I can tell you the book is a stunner! It’s a mammoth 460 pages, profusely illustrated, and comes in an attractive slipcase. There are many photos I’ve never seen, including a rare shot of Houdini and Boudini in their challenge shackles and bathing suits, and sequential stills from rarely seen footage of Houdini performing the Thumb Racket. Also revealed, in photos, are the working methods of Metamorphosis, the Milk Can, and the Water Torture Cell.

Says Patrick, “I wanted to write a textbook on how Houdini did it, a book that would open a thousand doors.”

Patrick will start shipping the book tomorrow to those who have pre-ordered. The release is limited to only 278 copies (with a majority already sold out).

If you act quickly you can still get a copy of Houdini - The Key for $195 + $12 shipping. Visit Houdini's Ghost for details on how to order.

The secret of the Water Torture Cell REVEALED!